1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile communication system, and more particularly to a mobile communication system and method for directly exchanging data between mobile communication terminals using a packet data service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, as a result of the development of the communication industry, code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile communication systems provide multicast multimedia communication services for sending of large-capacity data, such as packet data, circuit data, etc., as well as voice services.
Further, the more recently developed mobile communication terminals have performances and programs similar to personal computers. The improvements in mobility and performance of mobile communication terminals themselves promote the use of additional functions by users all the more. Additionally, mobile communication terminals store a large amount of data, such as telephone numbers, personal schedules, etc., and output or edit the stored data according to user requirements.
As mobile communication terminals have become necessities of life for modern people, users can exchange their essential contact information with one another by giving and receiving their own mobile communication terminal numbers. Further, mobile communication terminals can store not only telephone numbers, but also various data such as user addresses, Internet mail addresses, and even personal avatars.
In general, the exchange of data, such as address books, between users using mobile communication terminals can be made through the use of Internet mails or documents.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a conventional system for exchanging data between mobile communication terminals. As illustrated in FIG. 1, to exchange personal data between mobile communication terminals 12 and 14, a computer 10 is required for interconnecting the mobile communication terminals 12 and 14. Most commonly, a personal computer (PC) link program is installed in the computer 10 such that the computer 10 is connected with the mobile communication terminals 12 and 14 to exchange data therebetween. The computer 10 and the mobile communication terminals 12 and 14 are interconnected via separate data cables, respectively.
If the computer 10 receives a command to execute the PC link program under the condition of being connected with the first mobile communication terminal 12 via the corresponding data cable, then the computer 10 runs the PC link program, reads personal data stored in a memory (not illustrated) of the mobile communication terminal 12, and temporarily stores the read personal data therein.
Thereafter, upon receiving a command to store the personal data read from the first mobile communication terminal 12 into the second mobile communication terminal 14 connected via the corresponding data cable, the computer 10 writes the temporarily stored personal data into a memory (not illustrated) of the second mobile communication terminal 14.
A data exchange technique in the prior art is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0004137, entitled “System and Method for Supporting Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service in Non-Tracking Area” filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Jan. 21, 2003, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. This conventional technique illustrates only a scheme for automatically downloading multimedia data using a general voice traffic channel, without any description of a personal data sending scheme. That is, the general voice traffic channel described in this conventional technique does not support a personal data transmission/reception scheme.
In the above-mentioned conventional data exchange system, in order to exchange personal data between mobile communication terminals, a computer with a PC link program installed therein must be used as a mediator that is connected with the mobile communication terminals via corresponding data cables to read personal data stored in one of the terminals and write the read personal data into the other terminal, resulting in inconvenience of use and a higher cost burden.
In other words, a computer with a PC link program installed therein is required to read personal data from one mobile communication terminal and write the read personal data into the other mobile communication terminal. Further, separate data cables are required to connect the computer with the mobile communication terminals by wire. Moreover, to exchange personal data between mobile communication terminals, a computer with low mobility must be used as a data exchange mediator, causing great inconvenience in exchanging the personal data in real time as needed.